The Poisonous Jack Cafferty
by Russell Berwick Recently, CNN’s Jack Cafferty, had made one of his usual inflammatory comments, which was this time directed toward China. The comments that has many Chinese people upset was this, “We continue to import their junk, with the lead paint on them, and the poisoned pet food, and export jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we're buying from Wal-Mart. So I think our relationship with China, has certainly changed. I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs, they've been for the last 50 years." CNN has apologized for their comment stating that they were really talking about the government, and not the people of China. To China, this apology isn’t good enough. The Chinese people would like to see him get fired. I believe that the least CNN could do, is to have Mr.Cafferty make the apology himself. I think that our liberal news media, is perhaps so used to lashing out at our government, that they believed that an attack on China would just blow over in a short time. That’s where they made there mistake. In case you haven’t noticed, the Chinese people are a very proud people, who stick together like glue. They understand that like us, they have a lot of work to do to make things better, but that this will take some time. As someone who has been to China three times, I can tell you that things are improving there, at a very rapid rate. Every time I go there, I can’t help but notice, the progress that is being made, at a rate that we here couldn’t understand. The same people here that expect Iraq to become a fully Democratic country overnight, are the same ones that expect China to become nearly perfect overnight. Instead we should try and be good friends, and help them to keep going into the right direction. When someone like Mr. Cafferty states that, “We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them, and the poisoned pet food, and export.” He makes it sound as if everything made in China is junk, and is poisonous. I know that this was not his intention, but I only understand this, because I’m an American. If you were your average Chinese citizen, then you couldn’t help but be offended by such a condescending statement. When he states that, “you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we're buying from Wal-Mart.”, he makes it sound as if everyone in China had to work for such low wages. When Mr.Cafferty states that, “I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years.” He really insults all Chinese, instead of the government, as CNN later said that this remark was intend for. When you insult all the Chinese people, then you have made a lot of people upset, as I’m sure their finding out. When someone like Mr.Cafferty, makes these kinds of blanket statements, about a whole country, then he himself, should have the courage to face these people, and tell them that he is sorry, for insulting so many. If you were to travel to China, then you will find that they are some of the nicest people that you will ever meet. By wanting to hold the Olympics there, they are hoping to show the world, that they are not the kind of people that someone like Mr.Cafferty, would have you believe them to be. China is reaching out to the world, to show that they want to be respected, and want to live in peace with everyone. Of course, you can always find something that you don’t like about them, just as many people do to us. When I’m in China, and I’m talking to someone who is angry at my country for different reasons, I will tell this person, that we should find what we have in common, instead of always looking for the things that make us hate each other. For now, let’s put our differences on the back burner, and work on what brings us together. With all of the problems that our country is facing, shouldn’t we try and make friends, instead of more enemies? If we are friends, then we can talk about our problems, and solve them, instead of just making the problems worst, by shutting down all communication. It is my impression, that most Chinese wish to keep going forward to try and improve their country, by becoming more like the west. Mr.Cafferty can talk about a dollar a month wages, and make China seem as if things are very bad over there, but things are getting much better with every day that passes. Americans just can’t grasp at just how bad things used to be over there, in the old days. The vast majority of Chinese people, would never want to go back to those days, just as the majority of Americans would never want to go back to the Cold War days. If you are truly interested in bring about change for the better, then the best path is the path of peace, understanding and diplomacy. As history has taught us, it only takes one hater to bring the whole world to war. How many times must we fall victim to this hard lesson, before we learn that love is the only thing that will make the positive changes, that we all know in our hearts, to be the righteous desire of all man kind. __NOEDITSECTION__ From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. Category: Opinions Category: Opinions by User Russell Berwick Category: April 21, 2008 Category: April 2008 Category: Jack Cafferty Opinions Category: CNN Opinions Category: China Opinions